Healthy Chocolate Avocado Muffins
If I were stuck on a deserted island and was able to take one food item with me, I would take avocados.
I bet you thought I was going to say chocolate right? Well, that would be my second choice, especially if I lucked out and the island was already populated with avocados (one can dream).
My love for avocados began a few years ago when we moved to Toronto and I was playing around with the idea of adopting vegan-based diet. I was already cutting out most meats out of my diet, with the exception of the occasional chicken or salmon meal, and we already rarely had milk or cheese in our kitchen due to Trevor’s lactose intolerance. I was starting to read up on some meal ideas on my favourite vegan lifestyle websites when I noticed avocados were popping up in a lot of the recipes. Up until then, I had only eaten avocados in california rolls and a whole new world was starting to open up for me.
Before I knew it, I was buying a bag of avocado once a week and leaving them on the counter to ripen before slathering them on toast with bits of hard boiled eggs and fresh tomato slices. Instead of using condiments on my sandwiches, I would use avocado. I even began joking with Trevor that instead of an apple, I would gladly bite into an avocado for a snack.
My idea of a vegan lifestyle was short-lived (still can’t give up eggs), but my love of avocados still lives on. Luckily unlike most foods that I love, avocados are healthy and chock-full of vitamins and healthy fats. They can also make a great substitute for the unhealthy fats that are normally used in baking.
The first time I tried to bake with avocados was last year with disastrous results. One secret I later learned is to let your baked goods cool completely and you won’t taste any of the avocado. This can be hard sometimes if you like your baked goods warm out of the oven, but I promise that with this muffin recipe, it is worth the wait. The result is a soft, buttery and chocolatey-rich, but not too dense muffin that is very similar to that of a chocolate cupcake. Try convincing your friends that these contain absolutely no butter or margarine. I bet after one bite they won’t believe you.
The recipe I used is adapted from Eat Me, Delicious which I love because it also uses coconut oil and maple syrup in place of the usual vegetable oil and brown sugar found in most muffin recipes. Win one for the wedding dress! (Less than 80 days now!)
Healthy Whole Wheat Chocolate Avocado Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted & peeled
- 2/3 cup maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350*F. Prepare your muffin tin by greasing with non-stick cooking spray or baking liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder and salt. Set aside.
- Measure the coconut oil and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds. In a food processor, puree the avocado, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, almond milk and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Make a well in the dry mixture and add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. Stir together with a wooden smooth until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are slightly cracked. Remove from the oven and do not remove from the muffin tins for an additional 15 minutes to let them cool.
- Keep stored in an air-tight container. You can also keep them stored in the fridge, like we had to do once our place became too humid. They taste fantastic cold!
Recipe adapted from Eat Me, Delicious
I made these and they’re delicious!
You’re like me, I put maple syrup in everything instead of refined sugars!
Any thoughts on substituting coconut flour for the whole wheat flour?
You are welcome to substitute coconut flour, but I cannot guarantee the results will be the same. If you do try it, let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I looked up a substitute for pantry flour and found you need to add corn starch to regular flour, so maybe the same for coconut?
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I made these- slight variations to the recipe so it was gluten free but still yum yum. You can see my version here! I linked back to your site as well!
http://sugasnappea.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/chocolate-avocado-protein-cupcakes-vegan-and-gluten-free/
Thank you for sharing recipe and love your blog!
Cara
These muffins are so good! I just baked them and tried a piece of the top layer. Thanks for the great recipe.
Glad you liked them! Enjoy! 🙂
How long will these last?
Thanks!
I found that these muffins were good for 3 days in an air-tight container. The avocado makes the muffins very moist, so I would recommend keeping them in the fridge if it’s going to be longer than 3 days.
I’ve tried variations of this recipe and each time they work out perfectly.
I was wondering if anyone had a ball park figure on the nutritional values before I spend the time figuring it out myself!
Cheers and happy baking.
I’m glad to hear they’ve worked out perfectly for you. Unfortunately, I don’t calculate the nutritional value of the items I bake. Sorry!
Hi there,
Can this recipe be made with white spelt flour? Would like to try a wheat-free version.
Thanks,
Ruthe
Hi Ruthe! Thanks for stopping by. I’ve never baked with white spelt flour before, so I’m not sure if the results will be the exact same as whole wheat pastry flour. You’re welcome to try it though and let me know how it turns out!
I bake with spelt flour all the time. It’s basically the only flour I use. These come out awesome with spelt.
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Hi Jessica,
Thanks, I tried it out, however I had 2 little helpers in the kitchen, and in the middle of it all I forgot to add the coconut oil! So there we were gazing at the oven 25 minutes in wondering why nothing was happening 😉
Read about it here: http://rutheburke.wordpress.com/ When my next avocado ripens I’ll have another go (when the kids are in bed, and will remember to add the oil!) Thanks for the recipe 😉
These turned out awesome! I didn’t have maple syrup so I used honey, and I used olive oil instead of coconut oil. I also added unsweetened shredded coconut, walnut pieces and chia seeds! They add a nice healthy punch. Thanks for the great recipe 🙂
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Hi,
I tried this recipe and i’m just wondering if it is suppose to be dense?
Still taste great though!
Thanks!
Hi Anita,
I didn’t find them to be really dense, but they will be a bit on the heavier side due to all the delicious avocado. Glad they tasted great!
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Hello,
I made these with the following substitutions:
1 cup wholemeal flour and 1/2 cup wholemeal spelt flour (I couldn’t find whole wheat pastry flour)
Olive oil instead of coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup (instead of 2/3 cup – trying to cut down on the sugar)
Regular milk instead of almond milk
The consistency was perfect, but the muffins were on the bitter side. Could it be because I cut down on the maple syrup or also because of all the substitutions I made? Do your muffins taste a bit bitter? Nonetheless, I liked them and didn’t feel guilty about eating them all! Thank you for the recipe.
I didn’t find the muffins to be bitter, so it may have been all the substitutions. Glad you liked them though!
Just made these. Absolutely delicious. Will make again.
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These were so awesome! The only thing I changed was I used 1 cup Bob’s organic all purpose flour and 1/2 cup sprouted wheat flour. They were perfect and my kids loved them too which is saying a lot. 😉 Thank you for this recipe!
Just a quick question. I am planning a meal plan and want to use these muffins as a snack, do you by any chance have the calorie intakes?
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Reading all the wonderful comments I feel a bit silly asking but here goes…
What is the measurement of avocado? Here in Vegas the avocados range in such different sizes one can have twice the meat as another.
For this recipe Is it 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 3/4 cup or what? I don’t want to waste time and ingredients so prefer to know ahead. Thank you! I look forward to making this.
these made 10 muffins for me and on my fitness pal they were 275 calories. Most of the calories coming from the maple syrup,coconut oil, and flour, and chocolate chips. I thought they were good, but rather in the sweet side. I probably wouldn’t use so much syrup next time.
Have you ever tried to add any more veggies to the mix? Like shredded zucchini or purreed raw spinach? Would I have to add more flour to make up for the moistness of the veggies?
Hi! Thanks for this awesome recipe. I tried it tonight and ooh maybe I can finally battle myself off sugar. I bet the readers of my blog would want to try this too. Woud it be ok if I translate it to finnish and share it with in my blog? I would of course give you the credit and link your blog.
I made these with spelt flour and they were fabulous!
I have these in the oven right now..I used gluten free flour, very dense, but I’m surprised there are not eggs in this recipe…
OMG these are totally delicious! Many thanks for sharing x
Penny @
Cheekymums.com
Hi there wondering if I can use stevia instead of maple syrup?
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Just wanted to come leave a comment, I was searching for this recipe again and when I saw the familiar blog logo I knew I found it. I’ve been making these muffins since I was 11 or 12 years old… I just turned 22 last week and was thinking of making them again tomorrow. I’ve made these as breakfast/snacks when I was younger, for my family during Covid, and I seem to randomly think of them from time to time like today. Thought I would say hi!